Funeral mass for football player Ted Agu draws dozens

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BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK/KBFX) — St. Philip the Apostle Church was packed Friday with family, friends and teammates of Ted Agu, who died on February 7.

Among those in attendance was the football squad from UC Berkeley, the California Golden Bears. The team came down from Berkeley in three buses to attend the funeral of Agu, who was a member of the team.

"Just paying our respects to Ted," said 21-year-old teammate Stefan McClure. "He just touched all our lives in such a positive way."

Agu collapsed during a routine team workout while on the Berkeley campus. He died a short time later. A cause of death has not yet been released, as toxicology tests are pending.

A 2010 graduate of Frontier High School, Agu went on to attend UC Berkeley, where he joined the football team as a walk-on freshman.

"Ted was an awesome guy, he inspired a lot of people as you can tell," said Adrian Renteria, a former classmate with Agu at Frontier High School.

Others recall Agu as always being a strong dominating player. His sudden death took many by surprise.

"It just kind of shocked us all and made us wonder what happened?" said former Frontier High School classmate Kris Lozano.

McClure said his friend's death has drawn teammates closer together as a unit. He described Agu as someone who wanted to change the world for the better and prized education.

"He's really just an angel from heaven," said McClure.

Burial will be held at 12:30 p.m. Saturday at Greenlawn Southwest Mortuary.